PRESS RELEASE June 2016
ARTNAKED PRESENTS ‘ART SHORTS’ At the Valletta Film Festival 2016
Still from “Green” by Sebastian Kite
Debut: Monday 6th June, from 10pm Café Society, 13 St Johns Street, Valletta VLT 1168, Malta Following the success of the inaugural edition of Valletta Film Festival (VFF) in June 2015, Film Grain Foundation presents the second edition of the festival from Friday 3rd to Saturday 11th June 2016. As a new sidebar to the programme, London-based curators Andrew Hancock and Tani Burns of ARTNAKED have chosen a selection of leading international visual artists working in the media of film to present as a series of ‘Art Shorts’. Submissions were received from around the world, and the final curation comprises an impressive roster of critically appraised and award-winning artworks, alongside several artists who have recently been shown in either art biennales or film festivals globally. All artwork to be shown as part of the ‘ARTNAKED Art Shorts’ series is previously unseen on the Maltese islands. Encompassing animation, puppetry, abstract and surrealist video artwork, ‘Art Shorts’ juxtaposes the gruesome with the serene, the political with the purely aesthetic. Christopher Gray’s new work, “Death by Chair”, recently announced winner of the prestigious XL Catlin Art Prize, portrays through puppetry the gruesome scene of a medieval torture chamber, in stark contrast to Bongsu Park’s “Lethe River”, a captivating vision of light and movement choreographed through the filming and manipulation of traditional Korean dance, the artist’s interpretation of the Grecian myth alluded to in the work’s title. Wu Xiaohai’s animated drawing, created during a time of social distress in the artist’s natice China, stands as a foretelling of China’s recent and current social issues, while Vasiliisa Forbes presents the objectification of women in pop art and media through a visual arts campaign, stylised in the manner of a 'fashion film'. Andrew Hancock, presenting a fresh cut of his 30 minute contribution to last year’s Moscow Biennale, refers back to the art world itself, a playful, satirical, colourful and illuminating piece, rich in Art History and the struggles of the contemporary arts. Shin Kiwoun, also, considers the notion of value – this time in relation to the value and power of modern commodities, both in their being and in their destruction. TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
This year’s VFF will include a number of new elements intended to enrich the audience experience and expand it, including a curated strand of video art sourced from around the globe. ARTNAKED, the London-based curators, have been invited by the directors of VFF to curate this series of ‘Art Shorts’, a loop of video or filmic art to be shown in the heart of the city during the festival. Following their recent successes and contributions to the burgeoning art scene and cultural landscape of Malta – including the cultural sponsorship and part-curation of the Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale (November 2015 – January 2016), ARTNAKED’s Directors Andrew Hancock and Tani Burns, are delighted to return to the islands to present new, exciting and unseen content to such a discerning audience. th
The loop – debuting on Monday 6 June at Café Society in Valletta – will be presented in various public places in Malta’s capital city, Valletta, which gears itself ever more to take on the mantle of European Capital of Culture in 2018.
© Christopher Gray
© Vasilisa Forbes
Still from “Cooked Snow” © Xiaowen Zhu
Still from “Oracle I” © Andrew Hancock
Dis-Illusion Coin Face_Coin_Faces, 2007. Video, 3:13 min. Courtesy Hanmi gallery and Shin Kiwoun
Still from “Lethe River”, 2015/16 © Bongsu Park Courtesy Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery and the artist
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS (alphabetical) HOLLY BIRTLES Operatic Clay 2014 Holly Birtles investigates the relationship between human expression, performance, tactility and the flat photographic document. The process obscures the surface of photographs, introducing a suggestion of three dimension and physicality. The act of re-photographing (flattening) is used as an antagonistic tool, eradicating vital sensory perceptions posed by the tangible and lumpy objects. The short film ‘Operatic clay’ presents a range of stills that coincided with a project exploring operatic singers in the act of performance. The opera singers were photographed throughout singing; the portraits were then corrupted through visceral mark-making, using predominately paint and clay. ‘Operatic Clay’ isolates the applications of: lumps of clay, montages of horse bums, bridesmaids flashing and re- appropriates them into a fast pace film projection. Previously the work has shown in conjunction with large scale portraits, books and operatic performances. Birtles continues to integrate performance portraits and the construction of physical objects. Recent staged subject matter performed on request includes actors reciting chanted poems in repetition 70s British rock band Dr Feel Good expressing negative words on repetition (project: Dr Feel Bad), iconic/web-based found imagery and sax player Terry Edwards repetitively playing a C sharp. Performance techniques such as chanting, singing and repeating specific lines or words are constructed as a response from the James Lange Theory of Emotion, insinuating that the performance of an expression causes emotional activity only after cognitive evaluation of the event. This technique is arguably fictitious, which coincides with the nature of the project and in fact the nature of memory or subjective nostalgia. Education 2009 -2011 2005 – 2008
MFA Fine Art, Slade School of Art BA Hons Photographic Arts, Westminster University
Upcoming Exhibitions th Doomed Gallery (27 October) Trauma & memory project Unit 3 Projects, PROD 2 (12th - 25th August 2016) Baltic Book Art Fair, Newcastle, BBB Books Collective (18th - 19th June 2016) London Brain project/commission Great Ormand street hospital (July) Exhibitions 2016 2015
2014 2013
2012
Unit 3 Projects, PROD Bergen Art Book Fair, BBB Books Collective Uncover Flipbook Festival, Darlington, UK Cultural Centre Belgrade, Belgrade, Material Light Baltic, Newcastle, Artists Book Market, BBB Books Doomed Gallery Ridley Road Dalston, Dr Feel Bad November Cafe Below, Bank, 1f Opera Series Westminster University Gallery, Material Light Husk Gallery, Limehouse, Bind your heart in my hair (or) We'll have no trouble/no disturbance here 5th Base Gallery, Brick Lane, The Laying on of Hands Foyer Gallery, University of Creative Arts, Farnham, 1f Opera Series East Gallery, 214 Brick Lane,Scratch the Surface
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
GINA CUNNINGHAM Plaine du Nord 2011 Gina Cunningham learned the language and culture of Haiti, after traveling there often; to research tropical food, to teach after the earthquake and to participate in local art events with Haitian artists. Plaine du Nord is part of a video series, a unique spiritual journey which captures the raw passion displayed during Vodou festivals. These events celebrate the rich pantheon of the gods of nature and take place deep in the mountainous countryside where fierce, African spirits take possession of the participants. Best known for designing and creating South Beach's iconic Tap Tap where she curated exhibitions. Gina Cunningham taught art and film in the USA, and for impoverished students in Haiti and India. Gina's been awarded residencies in Miami, India, Korea and Iceland. She performed with pop artist Kenny Scharf during Art Basel Miami and at New York's Deitch Projects. She created installations for the three ghetto Biennales in Portau-Prince, Haiti. Her digital video work has been featured in recent international video festivals. Education 2010 postgraduate University of Central Florida, USA 2005 M.A., B.A. Barry University, Miami, USA Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 "By Land or By Sea", Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition, USA 2016 "Athens International Video Festival" Athens, Ohio USA 2016 "Pecha Kucha #32 Miami", Miami, Florida, USA 2015 "100+ Degrees in the Shade" Art Basel, Miami, Florida, USA 2015, 2013 & 2011 "ghetto Biennale" Port au Prince, Haiti 2015 "Open Studio", Gulkistan Center, Laugarvarth, Iceland 2014 "Art Miami", Art Basel, Miami, Florida, USA 2014 "Barim" Gwangju, Korea 2014 "Sex Offender" Miami Light Project, Miami, Florida, USA 2014 "Video Dance Festival" Havana, Cuba 2014 "1 Image, I Minute, Bass Museum, Miami, Florida USA 2013 "Myth" Art Basel, Miami, Florida, USA 2013 "Sacred Memories" , Pico House, Los Angeles, USA 2013 "A/V Show", Swampspace, Miami, Florida, USA 2013 "Cuba Fest", Miami Light Project, Miami, Florida, USA 2012, 2011,2010 "Miami Independent Thinker" Art Basel, Miami, Florida, USA 2012 "Pataphysics Show", Swampspace, Miami, Florida, USA Upcoming Exhibitions 2016 "The Apothecaries Gardens" Moscow, Russia 2017 " Under the Bridge" solo show, Miami, Florida USA
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
VASILISA FORBES Wax / Something Else 2015 Wax is part of a series that discusses the objectification of women in pop art and media through a visual arts campaign. The visual aspect of the video is arranged to appear at first as a conventional or commonly stylised 'fashion film', but as the narrative of both the music and subtitled lyrics develop, the underlying darkness and meaning of the film is revealed, descending into extreme objectification towards the end. Teaming the incredible force of real, existing song-lyrics from contemporary and early 20th Century pop-music (including famous artists like John Lennon, Black Flag, Def Leppard, Rolling Stones, Slayer, Weezer, Madonna), set against the highly sexualised, objectifying imagery, the question of our acceptance of tones of dialogue, pornography and the impact of popular culture are raised. Vasilisa Forbes is a fashion photographer / film-maker / video-director who Is also the brains behind the #WaxChick project, about which she recently spoke at the ICA as part of the London Short film Festival, at which she also screened work. Controversial and thought-provoking, her focus on female sexuality in the insidious world of advertising is always eye-opening. WAXCHICK became a billboard story across various global cities; NYC, London, Tel Aviv, St Petersburg. She has been a contributing photographer to various magazines like Dazed, I-D, Vice and Super Super and has been exhibited and held/supported by collections like Saatchi, Art Contemporian in Paris, Barbican, Baltic, Art Naked, Thank You Editions. Awards: 2015 2013 2012 2011
Shorts on Tap - Womens Film Winner Aesthetica Arts Prize Listed Debut Contemporary Artist Awards Shortlisted Sony WPO (World Photography Awards) Commended Photographer Bar-Tur Award Shortlisted Photographer
Recent screenings: London Short Film Festival 2016: ICA, Hackney Picturehouse ICA - Fashion Film Identity Panel discussion East End Film Festival In House Festival Shorts On Tap - Winner Library London Wax Live Kobini Digital Premiere 6 Countries Karst Artist Screenings Deptford Theatre Women in Revolt Parallell Viena - Electronic Relations Previously Exhibited: 125 Live; Dray Walk Gallery; Red Gallery; Apartment C Marylebone; Beach London; Library London; Karst Screenings; Art Against Knives; Powerlunches; Parallell Vienna; Palatine; Somerset House; Universitat Der Kunste, Berlin; Collective Studios; Wayward Gallery; V&A
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
MATT GEE Digi Sculpture Loops 2015/16 Digi-Sculpture Loops is a series of animations and digitalised effects manifesting in to what appear as kinetic sculptures, which seem to exist but that on the screen are not even physical entities. All the works are based on a state of flux in the studio. Objects and tools appear as if they have come to life. Crystals that have been grown by the artist begin to spin and melt, paintings start to flip and warp, and digital doughnuts turn as if they are rotating on a sculptural turntable. Solo exhibitions 2015 Matt Gee : Nutri Artifice, Gallery 286, London 2015 Matt Gee : Natural Simulations, Husk Gallery, London Recent group shows 2016 Of The Sea, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham BYOB (by Brainchild Festival), Platform Southwark, London cueB Open 2016, cubeB Gallery, London 2015 Things We Didn't Have Before, Pump House Gallery, London Toys (Are Us), The Crypt at St Pancras Church, London Art Naked Frieze Week Exhibition, Library Members Club, London Triad Frieze Week Auction, Triad Gallery, London Undead Painters Forum, ASC Gallery, New Cross, London Uprooted, Redlees Gallery, London Pop Living, Schwartz Gallery, London Curatorial 2015 2014
SWOOSH. , Rum Factory Project Space Wapping (Bow Arts), London Post Canvas Assmembly, Function Gallery, London
Residencies 2015 2009
Fljotstunga Art Residency, Fljotstunga (Husafell), Iceland Staatliche Akademie der BildendenKunste (Art Academy), Karlsruhe
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
CHRISTOPHER GRAY Death by Chair 2015/16 Christopher Gray is the most recent winner of the prestigious XL Catlin Art Prize, which he was awarded on th 17 May for his video artwork Death by Chair, presented now during the Valletta Film Festival. This filmed puppet show is set in an ancient torture chamber. There are two executioners, the ‘psycho-brothers’ as the artist calls them. Using the body of a dead chicken and using it to create a humanoid being, the idea is to replicate a gruesome act of medieval torture, yet in the sense of doing so through the filter of the artist’s own imagination. An ex-boxer and graduate of Goldsmith’s University in London, Gray grew up watching horror films from an early age: “I was always fascinated by the replication of violence in film and I am intrigued by how the graphic nature of it has increased over the passed fifty years. When I began to develop my puppets within the context of fine art I was initially focused on replicating boxers with my hands. At this point I began to make filmed performances and later I also began to work on live performances. I have recently begun to make films that focus on the theme of medieval violence. I have drawn inspiration from observing the way medieval violence has been replicated in contemporary fiction. I am compelled by the duality of fear and fascination that it evokes.” Gray’s method is to re-form his hands by attaching prosthetic limbs to his fingers, so as to replicate the human figure in motion. Through this he has endeavored to bring the physical dynamics of pugilism into my practice. Although this involves replication (with the use of my hands) it is also a demonstration of a desire to become something more. Education 2015
Ba (Hons), Fine Art & History of Art, Goldsmiths University of London
Upcoming Projects 2016 (July-Oct) Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Bluecoat, Liverpool Exhibitions 2016 2015
2014
Awards 2016
Young Gods | London Graduates, Griffin Gallery & Charlie Smith Featured in the XL Catlin Art Guide 2015 Sct. Hans Chapel,Denmark Reality Hype Phase 11: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Reality, Sct. Hans Chapel,Denmark Goldsmiths Fine Art & Art History 2015 Degree Show Mixed Vegetables, Menier Gallery, London Sevens, 5th Base Gallery, London Reality Hype Phase 1: Mr Banks Had A Mental Breakdown,The Dig The Middle, The Rag Factory, London Winner of The XL Catlin Art Prize 2016
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016 ANDREW HANCOCK Oracle I. (Temple of the Unseen Artist) – remastered 2016 The ‘Temple’ is built of an immersive landscape of ‘art-world altarpieces’. Viewers, immersed in a temple of aesthetic delight for a digital age, enter a shrine of imagery and sound, in which are celebrated the muses, death, work, chaos and harmony. All is dedicated to a new Apollo, the mystical, powerful, vast and faceless god Technology who leads our fate. Playful, satirical and illuminating, rich in Art History and the struggles of the contemporary arts, this ‘Shrine’ is a conceptual masterpiece, a pilgrimage for the weary art world dilettante. Andrew is a UK born artist with a rich family heritage in Malta. With a rapidly growing following in the UK and internationally, he has developed an extensive network of professional art world associates to enable the development of larger art projects worldwide. The importance of his oeuvre is in part borne from his parallel experience as a professional within the wider art economy, manifest in artworks created while engaging critically within the wider cultural sphere. The sensitivities in his work, whether plastic or conceptual, have garnered positive responses in a variety of diverse cultures due to an artistic and universal relevance, with consideration of recurrent and timeless themes of the spiritual, the corporeal and the relational. Despite a practice that is constantly evolving, Andrew Hancock’s work remains heavily steeped in the mythologies of artistic practice and the struggle with the specificities of key art materials. These are facets which may alter with technological or material developments, but which remain significant in spite of time and place. Education: 2006
B.A. (hons), History of Art, University of Manchester
Major collections: ‘CSPACD’, National Collection of China, Beijing ‘House of St. Barnabas’, Permanent Collection, Soho Square, London ‘Library Collection’, Library Private Members’ Club, Covent Garden, London ‘Purling London’, Corporate Collection, London Solo exhibitions: 2014 ‘Temple (Shrine to the Unseen Artist)’, Chinese Visual Festival, King’s College, London ‘How The Light Gets In - Festival Launch Event’, Library Club, London 2013 ‘Terrorforms’, Paintings and Installation, Little Denmark Studio, London ‘Take-Down’, Performance piece, 136 Shaftesbury Ave., Covent Garden, London ‘Birds Eye View’, 136 Shaftesbury Ave., Covent Garden, London ‘Flaming Hearts –New Paintings’, Maestro Arts Gallery, London 2012 ‘Art In Real Time (Reprise)’, StandArte Galleria, Madrid 2011 ‘Art Workers’ Social Cub’, Conceptual Art Event, Top Floor Gallery, London ‘Space Ritual’, Performance, Top Floor Gallery, London ‘Art In Real Time’, Installation and Performance, Top Floor Gallery, London ‘Permanent Secretary’, Installation and Performance, Top Floor Gallery, London Group shows: 2016 ‘We the Explorers’, audio-visual artwork ‘OSIRIS_REx, SPACE ORACLE’ to ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu, NASA, USA 2015 ‘Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2015’, Mdina, Malta th ‘Dialogues of Light and Sound’, ‘6 Moscow Biennale -2015’ NCCA, Moscow ‘Maverick Expo’, Oxo Tower, London ‘In The Artist’s Studio’, Chelsea Arts Club, London ‘House Collection – New Editions’, Library Club, London 2014 ‘A Comfortable Man’, Wilton’s Music Hall, London ‘Unabridged 14/4 (And, Not, Or)’, Library Club, London ‘The Loft’, K35, Moscow 2013 ‘Art Collection Launch at the House of St. Barnabas’, Soho Square, London ‘New British 2013’, Lloyds Club, London ‘Creative Cities Collection’, Permanent Collection, Olympic Museum, Beijing 2012 ‘Creative Cities Collection’, Barbican Centre, London ‘20|21 International Art Fair’ TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
QIN JIN Nine Days, Eight Months and Twenty Nine Years Qin Jin was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, in 1976, and lives in Guangzhou, where she is a lecturer at the oil painting department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Her range of artistic mediums is very broad, touching on painting, photography, installation, performance and video. Her solo exhibitions include Delete, Guangdong Museum of Art, 2006; Getting to Know You Again, Magician Space, 2009; andClose Your Eyes, Dear, Sabaki Space, 2012. Exhibition projects include We Are the Victim of Blessedness, a joint exhibition with Zhang Chunyang at the Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, 2006; Olhares Interiores: Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art, at the Macao Museum of Art, 2008; and Hong Kong and Macao, He Xiangning Art Museum, 2008. "I ironed clothing until it burned. I like cleaning the bathroom best among household chores because the skill set is not difficult and the results are clear. Ironing ranks second; ironing is work that requires both care and patience as well as a grasp of the essentials. It is finally a very special and not easily discovered way of expressing one’s emotions. Washing, airing and ironing the clothes one wears (or those of others, strangers for example) is like farming, reciting scripture, and breathing every day... I look back on my life aspirations and there is one in particular whose importance I still feel, hidden behind everything I do. I questioned myself on this constantly and endured everything so that I might someday be able to answer it: I wanted to achieve a certain view on life. This view would allow me, in the midst of my unceasing decline, to gain a certain flexibility; at times of dramatic life changes I could still clearly see that it was an illusion, or a dream, a single sway. Many years later, I discovered that this ambition of mine was not an ambition but only a defense mechanism, since a powerlessness had always filled my world, an indifference unspoken yet known by everyone. In this age I have no way of confirming what I believe in deeply—even keeping an introspective diary is seen as out of sync with the times. Here, that kind of desire developed into this unexplainable action, which looks so violent and determined, and which later became like a kind of ceremony for that desire, a private commemoration rite, too embarrassing to tell anyone else about.” Selected in partnership with China Culture Connect (UK) www.chinacultureconnect.org.
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
SEBASTIAN KITE Green 2015 Sebastian Kite (b. 1986) is an installation artist, architect, set designer and maker based in London. Kite creates experiential environments to choreograph the sensory engagement of people with architectural spaces. His practice lies at the intersection of art and architecture, with a particular focus on site-specificity. Beginning with an analysis of the site, Kite's installations use structure, kinetics, light, projection and sound as strategies to illustrate new readings of spaces. “Green” is a short film Kite made as part of the multimedia course with Kathy Hinde and Matthew Fairclough at Dartington International Summer School 2015. Inspired by Henri Rousseau’s fantastical painting of the jungles, this short film presents windows into the Dartington garden focusing on elements of green and juxtaposes jurassic plants with the linear features of the formal garden. Each scene is composed to be viewed as a still photograph, but in the detail, light is active. At the centre of the frame, a circle acts as both a lens and mirror, shifting the depth of the field, creating optical slippages of the garden. The soundtrack was created through live improvisation in an impressionist style, mixed with the environmental sound. Kite graduated as an architect in 2010 (Glasgow School of Art, Westminster School of Architecture) and also has a background in music. Kite co-established Kite & Laslett, an art and design studio in London. The duo realise projects from technical drawings via engineering solutions through construction to installation. To date, Kite & Laslett have exhibited large-scale installations in London, Milan, Berlin, New York, Hannover, Glasgow and The Hague. Audiences have encountered their projects in off-sites such as prisons, railway stations, bunkers and warehouses, but also the white cube gallery. Recent commissions and exhibitions include: 2015 Hue, Sweden, Berlin, London, UK AA, One Marylebone, London, UK 2014 Chamber, Display Gallery, London, UK Echelon, AC Institute, New York, USA Kite & Laslett: 2013 Sonica Festival, Glasgow, UK Vestige, The Design Museum, London, UK Ikono On Air Festival, Berlin, Germany Curious, Helmkehof, Hannover, Germany Lichtspiel, Import Projects, Berlin, Germany 2012 +-0, Postbahnhof, Berlin, Germany Confined, NEST, The Hague, The Netherlands Restructured, St.Georges Church, Bloomsbury, London, UK platform79 - the berlin project, Gerichtsgefängnis, Berlin, Germany La Cura, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Milan In Situ, The Belfry, St. John on Bethnal Green, London, UK 2011 Enclosure, Hoxton Gallery, London, UK Relay 'A Leap In The Dark', Testbed1, London, UK 2010 Musarc, St. Bartholomew the Great, London, UK Contact, Kite & Laslett Studio, London, UK Candescence, Kite & Laslett Studio, London, UK
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016 SHIN KIWOUN
Dis-illusion Coin-Face, 2007 and Approach the Truth Alarm Clock, 2006 Shin Kiwoun’s work focuses on existentialist themes such as time, reality, being, illusion and disappearance: “The ‘disappearance’ I think of, means rather ‘birth’. There is a presupposition that everything is not different from each other before it is born. I wanted to visually show the fact that the beginning and the start of an existence are not different through the physical action of ‘grinding’. I tried to strengthen the intensity of ‘disappearance’ by choosing something everyone wants to have, as the object to be ground.” (the artist) In his project ‘Approach the Truth’ and the work ‘Dis-illusion’, Shin terminates objects such as a mobile phone, a clock, an I-pod, English grammar books and coins. They are modern commodities and objects that somehow represent authorities and powers in our society. The artist designed various grinding machines to terminate these objects and filmed the process of crushing them. The expensive goods are transformed into dust and thus lose their value and power – they become nothing. On the other hand, they claim their true vitality through death. Shin recently presented a solo exhibition Movement/Anti-Movement at Esplanade: Singapore Art Centre in Singapore and exhibited in the Liverpool Biennial (2010). He was a recipient of New Contemporaries 2010. His works are included in private and public collections such as Arko Museum Media Achieve in Seoul and Mori Art Museum in Japan. Shin graduated with a MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2010. Recently, he has had many international residency programs, including at The Guest House in Cork, Ireland, Raumas in Rauma, Finland, Lademoen in Trondheim, Norway. Education 2010 2006 2003
MFA Fine ART at Goldsmiths College, LONDON MA Sculpture_ Seoul National Univ, Seoul, Korea BA Sculpture_ Seoul National Univ, Seoul, Korea
Awards 2012 2010 2007 2005 2005 2003
SIA Media Artist Award, Korea Bloomberg-New contemporaries 2010, UK th 29 Joongang Fine Arts Prize _ Grand Prix, KOREA rd 3 Media artist award , DAUM foundation, KOREA th 5 Seoul new media Festival 2005, KOREA st 1 Seoul Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, KOREA
Residencies 2014 2013 2011 2010 2005
GPS Artist Residency program, NamYang JU, Korea Lademoen Kunstner Verkstedet, Trondheim, Norway Raumas Artist in Residence Programme, Rauma, Finland The Guesthouse, Cork, Ireland Chang dong ART studio, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Solo exhibitions 2015 Reality Test_ There is no Butterfly>, SungSu Factory, Seoul 2013 Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Good Night space, Willing N Dilling, Seoul 2013 Between Real and Reality>, Babel, Trondheim, Norway 2012 e,g, Shin Kiwoun>,Museum of Art at Brigham Young University, Prove, USA 2011 Movement/Anti-Movement>,Esplanade_Singapore Art Centre, Singapore th 2006 20 Century Boy>, FLATFORM L in alternative space LOOP, Seoul 2005 Highly, Beautifully>, Space Cell, Seoul Selected in partnership with Hanmi Gallery. www.hanmigallery.co.uk
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
BONGSU PARK Lethe River 2015/16 Bongsu Park uses dance and music to explore her theme. Dressed in traditional Korean dance attire, her character in the work ‘Lethe’ separates into three overlaid time frames; the visual composition creates harmony and dissonance as the dancer travels into oblivion. This passage of life, death and reincarnation is the artist's interpretation of the Grecian myth referenced in the work’s title, where the dead were required to drink the river's water in order to forget the experience of mortality. Park completed her MA at the Slade School of Art (London) in 2013. In Korea and Japan, her early interest in photography blossomed to incorporate other media. Her diverse education includes studying at the École des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux where she developed her work thorough a diverse range of media, including video and installation. More recently, she has collaborated with a number of choreographers to integrate dance into her video works as well as live performances, including Platform 1 at Camden Arts Centre in London. Now London based, she has exhibited internationally. What unifies her work is a sustained and developing interest in the cycle of life: the fundamental questions of birth and death, growth and decay. Education 2010 – 2013 2007 – 2009 2000 – 2003
MFA Fine Art , Slade School of Fine Art , United Kingdom DNAP(diplôme national d'arts plastiques), Ecole des Beaux- Arts de Bordeaux BA Photography and Fine Art, Sangmyung University, South Korea
Solo Exhibitions 2014 “cord-cell-cube”, Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2014 “Before Lines, After Lines”, Hammi Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2013 "EMANATE", Mokspace Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2005 Absinthe, Osaka, Japan 2005 The Kaori Gallery, Osaka, Japan Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 “Lifting the Veil”, Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2016 “Between Oceans”, sim House, Reykjavik, Iceland 2015 “1111”, Ulsan Culture Art Centre, Ulsan, South Korea 2015 “2015 Single Channel Video”, Gyungam Art Museun, Changwon, South Korea 2014 “Sound and Vision”, Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery, London, UK 2014 “Art Video Night”, Niv Art Centre, Delhi, India 2013 “Lineage”, Barbican Trust Arts Group, London, UK 2012 "ASC Open Studios 2013", ASC Studio Erlang-House, London, UK 2013 "The masks we wear”, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK 2013 “Slade MA/MFA Degree Show 2013”, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK 2013 "IN THE VOID", The Crypt Gallery - St Pancras Church, London, UK 2012 2011 "Grotesque Genome", Mokspace Gallery, London, UK 2010 "Hors Champs", L'espace Culturel Maurice Druon, Coutras, France 2009 "Legends Urbaines", Art Festival Evento off, Porte Cailhau, Bordeaux 2009 "PB X PB", Centre Social et Culturel Réseau Paul Bert, Bordeaux Selected in partnership with Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery. www.rosenfeldporcini.com
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
WU XIAOHAI Mama I Feel Sick 2007 Wu Xiaohai graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Beijing. He has held several solo shows and participated in collective exhibitions in Beijing, Madrid, Basel, Paris, Hong Kong, and Thailand. His work is in the collection of the FRAC Collection and the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. Recently acquired by the French government art collection, his animation film ‘Mama I Feel Sick’ is a prime example of the transformative power of his work – bringing drawing to animation and responding to a series of social issues in China. In this film, with retrospect, we can see how forecasts have been made on notorious social issues in China, following on from such events occurring at the time of its making – such as earthquakes, toxic milk scandals and high-speed train accidents. In 2008 he was named one of the “Ten Artists of the Future” by Beaux Art Magazine, Paris. in 1999, his work “In the Book” won the Award for Excellence of The National News Publication Bureau Fine Arts Work Exhibition, Beijing, and his “Bridge” won the Okamatsu Family Fund Art Award in 1997. Wu was a research fellow of University of the Arts London in the year of 2011 and 2012. Selected in partnership with China Culture Connect (UK) www.chinacultureconnect.org.
XIAOWEN ZHU Cooked Snow Xiaowen Zhu is a documentary filmmaker, media artist, curator and writer. Described as a visual poet, social critic, and aesthetic researcher, she uses video, photography, performance, installation and mixed media as platforms to communicate the complex experience of being an international person and to wrestle with the notion of a disembodied identity.
Cooked Snow illustrates the limitations of conveying accurate thought (and therefore creating a seamless expression of ‘the self’) when speaking in a third language. ‘Cooked Snow’ shows tableau broken by text, beginning with a serene lake superimposed upon a woman’s torso, moving to a landscape with a fried egg sunset cooked on a buttered stomach. A narrative voice speaking a combination of German and gibberish explains that snow melts and a stomach needs to be shaved. During this descent into the inexplicable, distance is created as the meaning of the voice recedes further and further. The systemic return to disconnected text further implies abstract meaning that attempts to convey sensations beyond the realm of language. Born and raised in Shanghai, Zhu is currently based in London, UK. She was the first winner of the TASML Artist Residency Award and Marylyn Ginsburg Klaus Post-MFA Fellowship. She was an artist-in-residence at ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany and V2_Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is a mentor of the British Film Institute Film Academy, a member of the Los Angeles Art Association, and formerly a Visiting Professor of Media Art at Syracuse University and Marymount College in USA. Zhu received her MFA in Art Video from Syracuse University, USA and BA in Film, TV Production & Media Art from Tongji University, China. Zhu’s work has been shown at Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum (Beijing China), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai, China), Art Basel Hongkong, ZKM | Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany), V2_Institute for the Unstable Media (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), ISEA2011 (Istanbul, Turkey), Dumbo Arts Center (New York, USA), Videonale (Berlin, Germany), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, USA), Los Angeles Art Association (Los Angeles, USA), Venice Arts Gallery (Los Angeles, USA), Strozzina Art Space (Florence,Italy), Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts (Norwich, UK), Toronto Urban Film Festival (Toronto, Canada), DOK Munich (Munich, Germany), Film Winter (Stuttgart, Germany), Athens Video Art Festival (Athens, Greece), K3 Film Festival (Austria), Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, USA), Shanghai eArts Festival(Shanghai, China). Selected in partnership with China Culture Connect (UK) www.chinacultureconnect.org. TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
***EDITORS NOTES*** ABOUT ARTNAKED Operating in the sphere of bespoke curatorship and exhibitions, ARTNAKED places special emphasis on visual arts, in addition to social and academic events programming, incorporating the broader liberal arts and specialinterest activities. ARTNAKED was founded in 2013 by artist and gallerist Andrew Hancock and arts and PR consultant, Tani Burns. Having access to an extensive network of leading artists, creatives, tastemakers, academics and press; ARTNAKED brings together the combined experience of two established art-world professionals and associates under a new banner. Initial successes resulted in dynamic visual and multi-media exhibition series in central London. In merging carefully selected artistic and conceptual content, presented within unique, eclectic environments for exhibitions, performances and parties, ARTNAKED has presented a new challenge. The gratifying outcome is in enabling private groups of individuals – from international culture-followers, to industry-insiders, invited artists and client-guests – to share in rarefied experiences within a discrete, entertaining and enlightening cultural atmosphere. In 2015–16 ARTNAKED partook in the Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale as Cultural Sponsors and as the British Curatorial Team.
CONTACT DETAILS For more information, please contact ARTNAKED: T: +44(0)207 377 5665 M: +44(0)7888 731 419 +44(0)7807 452 801 E: film@artnaked.co.uk W: www.artnaked.co.uk
TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com
PRESS RELEASE June 2016
WITH THANKS TO
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TBurnsArts | 18 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | 0207 377 5665 | tani@tburnsarts.com